Hello,
Can anyone tell me if there is a big difference between Williams and Williams by Bachmann locomotives locomotives? I have recently picked up a few Williams locomotives that were new old stock. The only difference I can see so far is that there is no bell on the older Williams locmotives but performance is the same. I guess what I am trying to ask is when it comes down to reliability is there a difference?
Thanks,
Kevin
Can't stop working on the railroad!
I have a set of Williams Western Pacific F-7's, ABA with sound, that I purchased about 15 years ago. Still runs perfectly never a problem.
Bill T.
depends on how old you go back on Williams. I have a very old Williams FM trainmaster that the fuel tank is plastic instead of being metal ( which I have been told was done later years to add weight for traction) but it seems to do fine for me.
I also had a Williams by Bachmann trainmaster and really didn't see any difference in performance
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
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I have a few older Williams engines that run great, maybe 16 years old. The only problem has been with the reverse units not acting the way I thought they should, the F-7 started in reverse, so I had to put the powered unit of a three unit, A-B-A, engine consist, in the back facing backwards. The motors and gears are very good, but the operating knuckle couplers on B units come open at will, usually a small rubber band will solve the problem when put over the coupler arm.
The newer Williams by Bachmann, the motors are a bit more powerful when compared to the older motors used by Williams, I noticed this with an F-7 diesel engine. I bought a power upgrade kit to add power to an unpowered F-7 A unit and there was a very noticeable differance in performance with the new motors.
The old horn units that have just the basic horn, the horn sounds as long as you hold the button, but True Blast 2 has the grade crosssing sequence for the horn, and you need to hold the horn button a few seconds to get it to work with most Williams engines. Some older Williams have the(mainly the Crown Edition) QSI sound & motor control circit board that has both the bell and horn feature, also will have train leaving announcement when starting up. The bell sounds at low speed or lower voltage and the horn will sound at higher speeds or voltage, when using the whistle button.
There are two versions of knuckle couplers that could have been used for passenger cars when it was Williams only making the trains. One is a fixed coupler, non-opening(derailments happen for no reason with this coupler, at least that is my experiance), and the other is an operating version and it looks like a K-Line truck assembly. This is mainly noticeable on the larger passenger cars with three axles on each truck assembly.
Don't know how Bachmann is making the new passenger cars.
Lee F.
That is one thing I wish Williams never did away with was the station announcements as you call them I remember having an old shark-nose B&O that had that and it would say something like engine 2343 departing
rtraincollector That is one thing I wish Williams never did away with was the station announcements as you call them I remember having an old shark-nose B&O that had that and it would say something like engine 2343 departing
The announcement also had "Clear on track 10", then said "Departing on track ten." That was when they used the QSI circuit boards. I liked that announcement as well and have two sets of F-7 ABA diesels that have that in them, a Pennsy and a Santa Fe. In my sets the B unit has the station announcement and sound unit.
The only drawback if I can honestly mention one about the older Williams, is that they needed more power or two powered units. But my train had six passenger cars, El Capitan Santa Fe, with it and three engines, only one powered engine when I bought it, now it has eight passenger cars and two powered F-7 A units.
The Williams I have are only equipped with the horn which doesn't include a bell. I have never seen any that had QSI soundboards but the ones I have seem to have enough power so far and I have some MRC soundboards that I will install but with no crew talk. I was mainly concerned about reliability. I have several Golden Memory locomotives that are great but until now I have never had any original Williams. Cosmetically I cannot tell the difference between the F-7's from old to new except may that the Williams sit a little lower than the ones by Bachmann. I appreciate all the comments here they were very encouraging.
I have a pre-bachmann 773 hudson and a WBB 746 N&W J and they are both nice engines. The Hudson ran fine before I upgraded it to TMCC and still runs great. The J still retains the factory reverse unit and sounds and also runs great. The 773 has a pretty large can motor and the J has a slightly smaller one, not sure if that's a difference from the WBB startup or not. Both pull just fine.
I have both periods and find no difference. I like Williams as well as Williams by Bachmann.
Since they are all made in China it makes little difference. I would however prefer Made in USA.
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